Page 26 of Collide
“Summer, like the season?” I muse. “As opposed to what? Summer like the…name?”
She gives me a sideways glance. “Stalking isn’t a good look for you.”
“Not stalking. Just came over to see how you were doing, but I guess Summer, like the season, is doing great.”
She doesn’t find it funny at all. I, on the other hand, can barely contain my laughter.
“You know, I give updates to Kilner about your performance every week. Maybe playing in the final isn’t in the cards for you,” she says deceptively sweetly.
I shouldn’t be laughing. Not when she’s annoyed with me, and definitely not when she has my probation in her hands.
Reeling in my laughter, I take a step closer, and she stays confidently rooted in place. “What can I do to pass?”
“For starters, don’t lie to get out of a session.”
I wince. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know he made up an excuse. When Kian said you agreed to reschedule, I decided to come. I would never lie to you, I promise.”
Her head tilts with contemplation. “I’ll take that with a grain of salt since your promises hold no weight for me.”
“Then let me show you that they do.”
The poet himself reappears with Summer’s drink. “They only had beer.”
I shut my eyes in annoyance. Her eyes were softening and that anger from earlier toned down a few notches. I just need a few more minutes with her.
“Thanks.” I snatch the cup from him, down the drink and shove the empty cup back in his hand. “Now go away.”
I’m towering over the dude and he’s fuming, looking to Summer for something. He doesn’t get the answer he’s looking for because he walks off with a sad nod that makes me feel kind of bad.
“You want to make it up to me?” Summer pulls my attention back to her.
She asks the question seriously, but I can’t help but take it suggestively. How could I not? She watches me in a way that has my abdomen tightening, and her bottom lip is caught between her teeth. The barely-there top of her dress would have me sporting a semi if she wasn’t so mad.
Who am I kidding? I’m still hard, even as she glares at me like she’d rather see me covered in dirt.
I swallow. “Yes.”
My heartbeat changes tempo when she enters my orbit. In this dim light, I can’t tell what she’s thinking but I’m hoping it matches my thoughts. When her hands draw up as if she’s going to drag them up my pecs and hook her arms around my neck, I feel charged with anticipation. There is no way this is happening right now. If this is her way of teaching me a lesson, it’s not a very good one. I’d piss her off again just for the sheer reaction my body erupts with when she’s this close.
But instead of whispering that I should make it up to her in a bedroom or a vacant bathroom, she steps back completely. “Then you better get some sleep tonight.”
The smile she gives me is pure evil, and I have a feeling tomorrow’s going to kick my ass.
9 | AIDEN
THE HOUSE IS always quiet the morning after a party. Sometimes, we can even hear the birds chirping and see the sunlight finding its way inside. Except today, that sunlight is Summer Preston and she’s out for vengeance. And the chirping birds are the blaring of an alarm that jerks me awake. My pillow doesn’t cushion the ringing coming from downstairs, and when I throw off my comforter to yank open my bedroom door, Kian’s across the hall in his Shrek-themed boxers, with both hands over his ears.
“For the love of God, make it stop!” he cries.
“Are we in hell?” groans Sebastian from the bottom of the steps.
“I’m going to throw up,” says Dylan, ducking back into his room.
Suddenly, the noise stops and Summer appears with a bright smile. “Rise and shine!”
When Kian sees her, he pierces me with a glare. “Haven’t you learned not to piss her off?”
“What is this about?”
